Set visit -
http://collider.com/man-of-steel-set-visit
Info
While many Hollywood movies might shoot from 40 to maybe 70 days, Man of Steel is shooting for 121 days. Some weeks they are shooting 6-day weeks. This is a huge shoot and one that should lead to some incredible action scenes. I was on set on day 24.
Superman will fly using a mix of wire work and CGI. While on set, I got to see Henry Cavill take flight for about a second while connected to wires and I felt like a kid again. Once computers take out the wires, I think kids are once again going to believe a man can fly.
The S on Superman’s chest is actually a Kryptonian symbol and not the letter S. The symbol was on the front of the ship that took the Man of Steel to Earth.
The suit’s backstory is going to be explained and there is a reason he isn’t wearing underwear. We will also learn why he wears the suit and what it can do and why.
According to Goyer, Superman is given horrible choices where there is no good or safe answer. Basically, no matter what he does, it will end badly for certain people.
It is not love at first sight when Clark Kent/Superman first sees Lois Lane. I say Clark and Superman because I’m not sure who sees her first.
Jor-El is still a part of the upper echelon of Kryptonian society.
The town of Smallville and the movie have a few Easter Eggs for the fans. One that we noticed on set was Ezra’s Mail Depot. Ezra stands for Ezra Small (I think), who was the founder of Smallville.
As I type this, Snyder wants Hans Zimmer to do the score.
Snyder had to pick out exactly where Smallville is located. He wanted to leave it a mystery, but the lawyers at Warner Bros. made him decide on a specific place so they couldn’t get sued. He decided to create the District of Metropolis and it’s located on the east coast.
Zod is not a crazy villain. He also isn’t a mustache twirling psychopath. He has a point of view and it is not crazy. I believe it stems from the way Krypton has a different set of morals and he probably believes in them absolutely.
Below are a few more odds and ends gleaned from the set visit:
Russell Crowe’s role in the film as Jor-El is “significant” and is much more than a cameo.
Goyer says we’ll see more of Krypton than we’ve seen in the other movies.
The film will deal with “truth, justice and the American way,” but Goyer says not as much as you would think.
Christopher Nolan kept in touch with Goyer and everyone even while he was shooting The Dark Knight Rises. He would call Goyer sometimes a couple of times a week to be involved in the Man of Steel process.
The film deals with the question of, “Why was Kal-El sent to Earth?”
Kal-El is referred to as Superman in the movie.
They settled on the title Man of Steel because the movie is about him, the man, and not necessarily the superhero Superman.
Superman “cuts loose” in the movie and gets to fight.
The team was really focused on making Superman someone the audience can identify with.
They get into Zod’s backstory in the film.
The biggest influence on the film other than the comics was the Old Testament and New Testament.
Snyder approached the film’s visual style from a realistic standpoint and shot almost all of the film handheld, which was a decision he made very early on.
Snyder felt it was important to show Clark growing up in Kansas because to understand him you have to understand the why of him.
The first scene that Christopher Nolan pitched to Snyder was a scene about Clark Kenth’s childhood, not an action sequence or a Superman scene.
Their version of Clark Kent is not the mocky, nerdy Clark that was seen in the previous films. It’s a different take on who Clark is.
Snyder says they went through every possible version of the suit imaginable before settling on the final design.
Ultimately, they decided not to depict the underwear on the outside of the suit because they couldn’t come up with a practical reason for that to exist.
They decided to post convert the film to 3D because Snyder wasn’t going to change his handheld style to accommodate the 3D cameras. Shooting handheld and in native 3D would’ve been too difficult.
man-of-steel-henry-cavill-supermanCavill got up early every morning to train before 12 hours of filming.
Cavill was attracted to the idea of approaching Superman as a realistic, relatable character.
Some of Cavill’s favorite Superman comics include the New Krypton saga, Death of Superman, Return, and Red Son.
It took Cavill 15-25 minutes to get the costume on each time.
Cavill only knew he had won the role a few hours before it was announced publicly.
Cavill worked extensively on his American accent (Midwestern, to be exact), but he has to warm up to it; he can’t just go into it on the spot.
Cavill endured a rigorous physical training process that involved a high calorie diet and lifting very, very heavy weights.
Cavill signed a standard three-film option deal, which means contractually he is signed for three Superman films should Warner Bros. decide to make them and bring him back.
From a producing standpoint, Christopher Nolan focused on story and script issues, and Emma Thomas and Charles Roven were involved more with production issues since Nolan was busy filming The Dark Knight Rises.
They chose to film in Plano and Chicago, Illinois for Smallville and Metropolis, respectively, with some additional filming in Vancouver.
When doing their search for the lead actor, Cavill was always on the shortlist and once he screen tested they knew he was the right choice.
Superman Returns confused younger Superman fans because the film assumed the audience had seen Richard Donner’s films. With Man of Steel, they wanted to make sure they were reeducating the audience on Superman’s origins and history.
They came up with the film’s themes and story before deciding on the villain. The initial work informed who the right villain for the film should be.
Goyer said Man of Steel is the hardest script he’s ever written.
Snyder shot more on physical locations on Man of Steel than any of his previous films.
Humor plays a role in the film, but not a big one. There’s not a comic relief character.